


Abduction

by Max Elric (Max_Motou)



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Death like wow, Kidnapping, M/M, Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-04-26 23:35:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5025043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Max_Motou/pseuds/Max%20Elric
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Ed was 10, Al went missing. Now, 10 years later, Mustang is instructed to investigate a series of disappearances. Is it the same people that took Al? Or is it someone else? Will Mustang and his subordinates be able to rescue the missing children before it's too late? ( Ed X Roy) (Disturbing Images and Cursing)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I Don't Own FullMetal Alchemist. Nor Will I Ever! I Only Own The Plot!

"Al?" Ed asked, looking around. "Al? Where are you?" He yelled. "Al! This isn't funny!" Al!" Ed screamed as loud as his 10 year old lungs could go.

"AL! AL! AL!" Was all Ed could yell as he looked for his little 8 year old brother. Edward was terrified, he couldn't lose someone else. After losing Mom, he couldn't lose Al too. Asking anyone and everyone he came across, is they've seen Alphonse. But no one did. Ed felt alone and terrified when he was surrounded by people having fun playing the carnival games, and riding the rides. But he couldn't find him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!"

Edward woke in a cold sweat, bolting into the sitting position. Sighing, he got up and went into the Bathroom to shower. It felt good, having the warm water cascade down his back; it helped him to forget the memory, the Nightmare that had haunted his dreams for the last 10 years. 'You were only 10.' he reminded himself for the umpteenth time that morning. After washing away the painful memory, he got out, dried his body, and wrapped the towel around his waist, before proceeding to grab a second towel to dry his hair. After drying the underside of his long, blond hair he started drying the top of his head/hair. Looking up, though a small gap between his hair and the towel, he saw him. Where he always saw him, a photograph that he had taped to the side of the mirror a picture of Al, Mom, and himself. Mom had her Tan, loving arm wrapped around, 7 year old Alphonse, an arm draped over Ed's head. They were all smiling. That was the only picture taken of all three of them.

Ed sighed and walked out of the bathroom, tossing the towel used to dry his hair to a nearby hamper, but missing. His somewhat dry hair hung in his face, keeping his head bowed he walked into his room, and dressed for the long day ahead.

After a quick breakfast, Ed found himself running a little later than usual. His shower had taken a longer than normal, than with all the memories that came whenever he looked at that photograph, instead of being 5-10 minutes late, where he could just blame traffic, he was running 15-20 minutes late, which is why his breakfast of coffee and leftover bacon and eggs, was now a BE breakfast sandwich, crushes between his teeth. He had his right arm in his jacket, and only his left shoe on. His right shoe was on the passenger side floor board. He was using his right arm to steer the military issued vehicle, while his left arm tried to get into the blue jacket. Driving like a maniac paid off, somewhat, getting him to the office only 10 minutes behind. He got his automail arm into the jacket. Hopping around, his breakfast sandwich still clamped tightly between his jaws, he got his shoe on, and started running into the building.

Ed entered the room designated for Colonel Mustang and his subordinates. Hawkeye was sitting at her desk, glancing over at Mustang every now and then, making sure he was working on the monstrous pile of paperwork in front of him, her blonde hair in a tight bun on the back of her head. Breta was sitting behind his desk, with Havoc sitting on top of the said desk talking about something, probably about a new girlfriend or someone he's going to ask out, Ed couldn't tell. Hughes was ranting to Fury about his baby girl, who was going to turn 5 over the weekend, with Sheska not far behind him. Obviously she was trying to get his attention, but failing. When he starts to rant, you can't stop him until the person he's come to talk too showed up, that, or you just wait for him to stop.

Ed chuckled to himself, looking at the utter chaos, it was oddly comforting. Ed smiled, and walked over to his seat as quietly as he could, anything could set Hughes off on another rant, only with Ed as the victim. Because it's not like he wasn't heard about Elicia's upcoming birthday a million times this week.

Ed had sat down at his deck for .5 seconds when Hughes had locked on to his new target.

"Edward!" Hughes said as he was suddenly standing in front of Ed's desk that sat in a lone corner.

"The day's almost here!" Hughes said happily.

"Yes it is." Ed said though the sandwich.

"Yes. Yes. Yes!" Hughes said loudly, jumping over the desk, invading Ed's bubble. With a picture of Elicia in his hand, he started to ramble on about Saturday, and how he has to come over Saturday for the birthday party. That Elicia wants some Barbie dolls. And that Gracia's going to make a birthday cake from scratch and. . .

At this point Ed had tuned him out, only needing to know where, when and what to bring little Elicia's birthday.

"Fullmetal!"

Edward cringed when he heard his Title coming from Colonel 'Bastards' ,as Ed had come to dub the Colonial, office. Ed got up with a sigh.

"Looks like Colonel Bastard needs me. Talk to ya later Hughes!" Ed told the older man.

"Alright Ed. . . You are coming to my BEAUTIFUL daughter's birthday party this weekend. Right ED?"

"You can count on it!" Ed replied with a wave in the man's direction. With a smile on his face Ed entered the dreaded enclosure.

"FullMetal." The Colonel stated. The smile that had been on Edward's face had then disappeared.

"Sir." Ed said sarcastically, saluting the blue-cad man.

'Colonel Roy Mustang, a black haired man, 30 years of age, and time has been kind to him,' Ed thought.

"You called me?"

"Yes. FullMetal. You came in, what, 25 minutes late today?" Mustang

Asked. Looking over at Ed who's still standing at the door.

"Well, close the door!" Mustang exclaimed.

"Oh! Right." Ed said, quickly shutting the door, making sure not to slam it shut.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"You came in 25 minutes late, did you not?" The Colonel repeated.

"Oh. Uh. About that. . ." Ed started to say, a slight blush forming on his face. Golden eyes following the intricate design woven into the carpet. Mustang just chuckled to himself, he loved making the younger man all flustered like so.

"Well, I guess I could let it slide. This time." The tension that was in Ed's shoulders left.

"But," The Colonel started.

'Hello tension, my name's Edward.' Ed thought.

"That's not the reason why I called you out. I called you here to discuss your next mission." Mustang continued.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Come here." Mustang ordered, making Ed jump. He walked towards the secondary desk cluttered with papers. A map was laid out, a map of the whole country. Red, blue, and green thumb tacks were in various places. Ed looked up at the colonel after examining the map, expecting an explanation.

"The red thumb tacks represent children between the ages of 5-15 that have gone missing. The Blue thumb tacks represent sex offenders. And the green, the bodies that have been found." The colonel stated with a heavy sigh. "I'm going to inform everyone of this assignment that we've been given. I'm giving you a head start, see if you can make anything of this."

"Alright. I'll get started on this. You go inform everyone." Ed told him, his nose already in the piles of paper, more than likely unaware of what he had just repeated what Mustang had just told him. Sighing, Mustang opened the door, chancing a glance at the younger man, left the office and called a meeting, excluding Ed, since he was already informed and working.


	2. Chapter 2

Colonel Mustang had just debriefed his subordinates on the new case. So everyone Minus Ed was working on the case in the main room. Occasionally Mustang would glance over at Ed, working diligently in his office. Every head was working on solving the case. But no progress was made before lunch. One by one everyone filed out of the office, everyone except for Mustang and Ed.

Ed was oblivious to the time, since his head's in the case files. The thought of finding Al, after all this time. . . Ed decided that he would work day and night, 24 hours if need be, until Al and/or these missing children were found and their captors found, then he wasn't going to sleep willingly.

'That's for damn sure.' Ed thought.

Mustang got up and stretched.

'My brain is fried!' He thought yawning. He checked his Alchemic Pocket-Watch. 6:55 the watch read. 'Shit! Well, there goes lunch. It's time to go home.' The thought crossed his mind and he instantly agreed with it. He picked up his blue jacket in his arms and yawned again.

"Jeez! Why am I so exhausted?" The Colonel questioned aloud, not expecting the answer that he got. The answer came in the form yawn that emanated from the Colonel's personal office.

'Is Ed still in there?' Mustang thought as he walked over to his Office. Ed's still sitting in front of the secondary desk in the corner of the office. Blond hair blocked his face on both sides. With his face in one hand, a file in other, the young blond yawned once more, covering his mouth with his hand holding the open file.

"Fullmetal?" Mustang asked. Ed said nothing; he just continued to read the file. Mustang sighed and tried again. "Fullmetal." With no response Mustang sighed again and walked over to the young alchemist.

"Edward." Mustang said, shaking Ed's shoulder.

"WHAT!" Ed shouted startled, jumping out of the chair and away from the table, his hands poised, ready to transmute.

"Easy there Edward." Mustang said, raising his hands in surrender, showing that he meant no harm.

"Damn it Mustang! You know not to sneak up on me like that!" Ed exclaimed, lowering his hands to his sides.

"I did Ed. I said your name three times before shaking your shoulder." Mustang said with a light chuckle, walking up to Ed.

"I take it, since you're using my name, and not my title, that everyone's gone." Ed said looking at Mustang.

"Yep." Mustang replied, planting a kiss on Ed's forehead. Ed's stomach growled, as Roy's mouth began to move down towards Ed's mouth. Ed's face became red from embarrassment, while Roy just smiled.

"You skipped Lunch, didn't you?" Roy asked.

"Uhhh… Kinda…"

"Ed! You know you have to eat!"

"I know, I know. I just got caught up working on this new case!" Ed exclaimed.

"Fine. Fine. Ok. Just, let's not revert back to old habits. OK?"

"Ok. And I won't." Ed said with a huff

"Just making sure." Roy said with a laugh. "Let's go get something to eat." Roy said making his way to the door.

"Fine." Ed said, gathering up his things quickly before following him out the office door. "BUT YOU'RE BUYING!" Ed exclaimed, running after said boyfriend, who had just shut out the light and was about to shut the door to the room.

Ed drove over to the local Long-John-Silvers, while Roy sat in the passenger seat. Ed was driving because he argued that it was his car and that since it was his car, no one drove him around anymore. As crappy of an argument, as that was, Roy gave and let Ed drive.

They got to the Long-John-Silver's with no incidents. Ed parked the car and they got out. Ed ordered the breaded tilapia, fries and a Mountain Dew. Roy got some breaded chicken; hush puppies, fries, and a Coke.

After getting their food, they walked back out to the car, not wanting to be in the over-crowded restaurant any longer. Ed unlocked the car in, while walking to the vehicle. Roy opened the passenger side door before slipping inside the black car. Ed opened the driver side door.

"Here. Will you hold this?" Ed asked handing Roy his bag of fried food and his green drink.

"Sure." Roy replied grabbing the items that were being held in front of his face. Ed stretched a little bit in the parking lot. Getting the kink out of his back, Ed yawned, looking around the almost empty parking lot. Ed saw this green-haired kid was watching Ed.

'Is that the same kid I saw watching me earlier?' Ed thought.

"I'll be right back." Ed said to Roy before sprinting to the kid.

'Wha! Wait! ED!" Roy yelled, trying to unbuckle his seat belt to stop the blond before he got too far away, but failed. Roy got out of the car, only to find Ed gone, he had disappeared into the crowd that was gathering on the parking lot.

"SHit!" Roy yelled, sitting back down on the passenger seat, leaving the door open. Roy place the food in the floorboard with his and the Mountain Dew in the cup holder, and waited.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE!" Ed yelled at the green-haired kid. The kid just continued to run away. Ducking thought people and alleyways. Obviously this kid knew his way around Central, but so did Ed.

"HEY! I SAID STOP!" Ed yelled as they turned down the second alleyway. Ed was done with this chase. Ed dropped to one knee, clapped, and transmuted a wall in front of the kid. The kid skidded to a halt, just barely able to stop without the wall making his stop. The kid turned around and looked at Ed, gold eyes glistened with fear. The child quickly clapped his hands and transmuted a hole in the wall, and jumped through it, sprinting away from the alleyway.

"SHIT!" Ed yelled, surprised that this ragged kid could transmute. Ed jumped through the hole like a hurdler would jump over a hurdle. The kid turned right, exiting the alleyway, Ed skittided and turned to the right, hoping to catch up to this strange, green-haired, alchemist.

The kid was gone. He had disappeared into the crowd. Since the kid wasn't running thought the people, he wasn't easily spotted. Ed leaned against the brick wall, and gripped his side. It felt like his lungs were collapsing in on themselves.

'I really need to get in shape.' Ed thought to himself, taking deep, slow breaths. When Ed felt better he looked up at the crowd, getting his bearings so he could get back to Roy and his food. He looked around at the buildings, realizing that he's only five blocks away. Taking a deep breath, Ed stepped out onto the sidewalk, and froze momentarily. The kid was standing across the street, staring at him again. Ed took a step towards the road, wanting to cross in order to get to the alchemist, but a car sped by him. Stopping him in his tracks. Jumping back, Ed fell onto the sidewalk, landing on his butt.

A vichilal, a van, sped up to the kid and stopped, but before that van stopped, Ed could have sworn that he heard the kid say,

"Sorry. . . Brother. . .


	3. Chapter 3

"Al?" Ed asked, looking around. "Al? Where are you?" He yelled. "Al! This isn't funny!" Al!" Ed screamed as loud as his 10 year old lungs could go.

"AL! AL! AL!" Was all Ed could yell as he looked for his little 8 year old brother. Edward was terrified, he couldn't lose someone else. After losing Mom, he couldn't lose Al too. Asking anyone and everyone he came across, is they've seen Alphonse. But no one did. Ed felt alone and terrified when he was surrounded by people having fun playing the carnival games, and riding the rides. But he couldn't find him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!"

 

______________________________

Ed woke with a start, bolting upright, papers scattered, floating from the bed sheets to the floor. Ed placed his head in his hand and sighed. Two days and still no leads. The only reason that Ed had landed in bed was because Roy had called around midnight and practically had to order the blonde to go to bed. Well, he did go to bed, at 12:30. But that didn't mean he went to sleep immediately. Sleep came about two hours later, and that was only because he passed out from a headache/exhaustion double whammy. Now what he really needed was a shower, or a bath. He already told Roy that he wasn't coming in today. That maybe a change of scenery would get the brain working, or something along those lines.

Ed looked over at his digital alarm clock that read 9:35am. Well at least he had gotten about six hours of sleep, which was better than no hours of sleep that he had gotten over that last two nights. Yawning, Ed began stacking the papers covering his bed into neat little piles

 

______________________________

 

In the bathroom Ed started a hot bath. When the temperature of the water was just right, he left the water running and went to the kitchen to make him something to eat.

 

______________________________

 

Ten minutes later, he went back upstairs to turn off his bath. The water was so hot that there was steam coming up off the surface of the bath water. With a smile on his face, Ed left again to fetch his coffee. Normally while on a case, Ed would never take a bath, drink some coffee, or get any sleep. Especially with the chance of Al being found, but Ed's waited 10 years to find Al, a couple more hours shouldn't hurt.

The water burned Ed's skin, but boy did it feel good. The tension in his lower back, from sitting stooped over for hours on end, melted away. Ed all but turned to mush in the water. All his muscles relaxed, limbs limp, and mind blank. Soon, Ed fell asleep in the water.

 

______________________________

 

"AAALLL!" Ed screamed. Ed looked all around him, he couldn't find him.

"ED!" Someone yelled. Al maybe?

"ALLL!"

"EEDD"

"ALPHOOOONSE!"

"EDWAAAARD!"

"ALPHOOOOOOONSE!"

"EDWAAARD!"

"Edward." "Edward" "Edward"

"Find us Edward." Ed looked around, tried to find a person he knew, but no one had any faces. In the place of a face, a blank surface. Ed's 10 year old mind couldn't process what was going on. Ed fell to the ground, his automail clanging. Ed looked at his arm, no longer was he a 10 year old boy, but the 20 year old dog of the military he was now. Looking back up at the faceless people around him, he saw that they were no longer faceless adults, but children. Every face, everybody, was from the missing persons files that lay on Ed's bed.

"Save us Edward. . . Save us Edward. . . Save us Edward. . ." They all chanted. Over, and over, and over and OVER. Their voices grew louder and louder and they moved closer to him. Forming a tight ball around Ed, and they continued to move in closer.

"Save us Edward. . . Save us Edward. . . Save us Edward. . ." Ed shriveled up into a tight ball, rocking himself back and forth.

"I Will. I Will. I Will. I Will. I Will." Ed chanted, his voice being drowned out by their plead to be found and save.

"Save us Edward. . . Save us Edward. . . Save us Edward. . . Save us. . . Brother. . ."

Ed's head shot up. His gold eyes caught silver irises.

"Bro-. . ." Ed began

"SAVE UUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

 

______________________________

 

Ed jerked awake, arms flying to his face.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL" Ed screamed into his palms. Tears swelled up in his eyes, and Ed let them fall. This was a new nightmare, no, that was worse than a nightmare, he didn't know what it would be, but it wasn't a tame nightmare.

The bath water was cold, but Ed didn't care, the tears didn't care. Ed was faintly aware of the noise coming from downstairs. He didn't notice that someone had entered the bathroom. He hardly recognized that he was being pulled out of the tub, wrapped in a towel, and placed in the lap of a male.

Roy rocked back and forth with Ed in his lap. He whispered sweet nothings and reassurances that he was there and things were going to be fine. 

After five minutes or so of straight comforting, Ed's river of tears finally slowed to a small stream.

"Better?" Roy asked, drying Ed's eyes with a wash-rag.

"Yeah. I think so." Ed said slowly, sniffing and wiping the tears away. Ed stood with the help of his boyfriend.

"You going to be ok?" Roy asked, extremely concerned for his blond.

"Yeah. I think that I'll be ok."

"Alright. I'll step out for a moment, alright?"

"Ok." Ed said his eyes puffy and his nose red.

"Alright." Roy then stepped out of the bathroom, leaving Ed to dry off and dress.

 

______________________________

 

Roy was sitting on the black, leather sofa when Ed came down the stairs. Ed entered the living room wearing white socks; black, leather pants; and a black, silk tank top; hair still damp, hanging down.

Roy checked him out, and liked what he saw. Ed flopped down next to Roy on the couch and sighed. Roy wrapped an arm around Ed's shoulders and pulled him close.

"So, do you want to tell me what caused that little break down in there?" Roy asked looking down at the smaller male.

"Just a . . . bad dream." Ed said, snuggling into his raven haired bf's side.

"Just a really bad dream." They sat in silence for a few moments before Ed asked, "What brings you out here anyway?"

"Well, aside from seeing my beautiful boyfriend in his natural environment. . . I wanted to take him to lunch." Roy explained with a smirk plastered on his face.

"LUNCH!" Ed exclaimed pulling out his silver pocket-watch.

"Yeah, lunch. Anything wrong with that?" Roy questioned.

"No. No, nothing's wrong with that." Ed said with a shake of his head, before placing his head in Roy's lap.

"So, where were you thinking of taking me?" Ed asked looking up.

"I haven't gotten that far." Roy said, messing with Ed's long, blond hair.

"I was Kinda thinking about cooking something, but what?" Roy said looking up.

"What is it you want?"

"I don't know. What do you want?" Ed said a smile on his face, the night/daymare thing a distant memory. Ed looked it when Roy cooked for him.

"Surprise me." Ed said with a devilish smirk.

"Be careful what you wish for." Roy said getting up. Ed stayed on the couch for a few minutes before rushing up to his room and running back in a flash, manila files in hand.

Ed sat back down on the sofa and distributed them on the cushions and coffee table. The only thing that he's been able to deduce, is that they hit only crowded places, mainly carnivals; low security, lots of people, everything chaotic. Now with his head back in the files, he didn't notice when Roy said that the food was done, or when Roy's military issued cell/pager went off. The only reason that Ed was brought back into reality, was when Roy kissed him on the lips. Ed kissed back; smiling, but, he only felt sadness and anger coming from Roy so he broke the kiss.

"What's wrong? You didn't burn the food? Did you?" Ed asked jokingly.

"No. That's not it. The foods fine." Roy said, trembling, out of sadness or anger, Ed didn't know.

"Then wha-. . ." Ed began.

"Another one's gone missing."


	4. Chapter 4

Ed was beyond angry. He was livid, at himself and at the perps, but mainly at himself for not thinking that the CARNIVAL with CHILDREN and CHAOS wouldn't draw the perps in for prospects. It was the perfect place to pick up kids.

Ed sighed. He shouldn't have taken a bath earlier; he should've been obsessing over the files. He shouldn't have slept at all last night; he should've been up all night last night and this morning going over the files, and checking for this sort of things, so that the little girl could've been sleeping in her own bed tonight. It's all his fault that this happened.

"It's not your fault," Roy said, breaking the silence.

"But it is!" Ed exclaimed, falling silent once more.

"Then you should stop punishing yourself and start thinking of a way to get her back," Roy barked, knowing that this would get his brain to stop punishing himself, that he does that enough, and he doesn't need one more disappearance to beat himself up about.

Ed's brain put punishment on hold in favor of getting the girl back.

"Who is she? They at least told you that, right, Colonel?" Ed spat at Mustang. 

Mustang sighed. What he said was harsh, but now that Ed was thinking with this mindset, he was going to come up with something. "Yes. Her name is Nina Tucker. She's the daughter of the Sewing Life Alchemist, Shou Tucker." Mustang said.

"Didn't he make the first talking Chimera?" Ed asked.

"Yes, but it's dead."

"Yeah, I know that," Ed said with a huff.

"How old is she?" Ed asked.

"Four years old," Roy said with a sigh. Ed smacked the dash of the car with his automail arm.

"DAMMIT!" Ed yelled. “She's so young. She shouldn't be forced to go through what she's going through.” 

They remained silent for the rest of the drive.

Colonel Mustang's subordinates--Riza Hawkeye, Kain Fuery, Vato Falman, Jean Havoc, Heymans Breda--had previously taken statements at the scene from Tucker, a couple of vendors, and the couple that had helped Tucker look for the missing child when Tucker had first notice Nina had vanished. When the statements were being taken, Hughes, Sheska, and his team of investigators, evacuated everyone off the fairgrounds so that the forensic team could work.

Edward and Colonel Mustang arrived as things were quieting down: Mustang's subordinates were gone, presumably at the base, interrogating Tucker and whoever else they picked up. They walked in silence. The abduction had taken place near the rear exit, close to the only road in or out of Central.

"Ready to get to work?" Mustang asked, going to the center to the blocked off zone.

"Ready when you are," Ed replied from the outer edge of the area, yellow police tape at his back.

"Ok."

And with that they closed their eyes. When they reopened them the scene had changed from a dead, deserted lot to crowded and lively. Kids laughed, children screamed, bells rang and people cheered. All in all, it was just utter chaos.

Ed couldn't understand why people actually came to these things. The chaos, the crappy fried food that's liable to kill you, spending cash to play rigged games. He just couldn't fathom an answer to WHY?

Next to Mustang was Tucker and Nina, going through the same thing that had happened earlier.

"But daddy! I'm still hungry! And so is alexander!" Nina cried as Tucker wiped her face with a napkin.

"But Honey, you just ate! Any more of this fried stuff, and you'll never eat any dinner." Tucker said, deflating all Nina's attempts to get more food.

"Okay. . ." Nina said, making her best pouty face, hoping that this last ditch effort was worth it.

"No," Tucker said with a stern look on his face. He sighed, picking Nina up, "Now what to do next. What to do next." Looking to Nina for an answer. Nina looked around before pointing to a game over to the left.

"THAT ONE!" Tucker chuckled before setting Nina back on the ground. Alexander was tugging on his leash toward the direction of the game Nina wanted to play. Tucker took one of Nina's hands into his own and held a light grip as they began to walk to the game.

"This must be where the perp took Nina. This would be the perfect time to grab her. In the midst of the Lunch Rush," Edward said.

They had only walked a few steps before someone pushed past, going in-between Nina and Tucker. Tucker turned around quickly, hand shooting out to grab Nina's, but it never grabbed a hold on Nina's hand.

"This would be when someone grabbed Nina, or distracted Nina and someone else grabbed her," Mustang observed. Ed nodded in agreement.

"We should go to the base. We need more info if we're going to get a good enough timeline," Ed said walking up to Mustang.

"I was just thinking the same thing."

_______________________________

 

At the station Hawkeye and Havoc were interrogating Tucker. Havoc being some-what-serious, while Hawkeye, with her maternal instincts taking over somewhat, was comforting Tucker.

Ed and Mustang watched the last half of the investigation through the huge two-way window.

"Then what happened, Sir?" Hawkeye asked gently

"After that bitch rushed past us, I tried to get a hold of Nina, but someone came up to me. Started asking me all these questions," Tucker said, sipping a small mug of bad coffee.

"What kind of questions?" Havoc asked, a pad of paper sitting in front of him, a pencil dangling from his hand.

"He asked me if I was Shou Tucker. How did I make a talking chimera? Where the chimera was now? What all did it say? I just figured that the kid was a fan or an alchemist. I quickly answered his questions and shooed him away. He looked really happy that he got to meet me. He even asked me for my autograph," Tucker said with a sigh. He took a drink of his coffee and grimaced. "This coffee is horrendous."

"It always is," Havoc said before Hawkeye kicked him from under the table.

"What did this boy look like?" Hawkeye asked.

"I don't know! Uhhh. . . He had long, green hair. Looked like it was in Dreadlocks, no, no Dreadlocks. He had golden eyes. He had to be no more than 18 years old." Tucker said. Havoc was scribbling everything that Tucker had said onto the pad of paper.

"He looked scrawny, like he didn't get enough food on a regular basis. He wore light blue jeans and a loose fitting black t-shirt," Tucker finished.

"Uhhh. Alright," Havoc said absentmindedly.

"So what happened after the boy left?" Hawkeye asked.

"She. . . She was. . . Nina was gone," Tucker said, choking back a sob.

"There, there," Hawkeye said, standing to rub Tucker's back. He leaned against Hawkeye and began to sob, repeating over and over that she was gone and how sorry he was.

Mustang sighed and turned away from the glass.

"That has got to be hard,” he said looking at Ed. The blond wasn't looking at Mustang though. He was frozen, swaying ever so slightly.

"Fullmetal?" Mustang asked "Fullmetal, are you okay?"

He wasn’t okay. The description fit that kid almost perfectly. The kid that he had chased 2-3 days ago. The kid that outran him. The kid that got away was involved in the kidnapping of a little girl. And he had let him get away! Ed marched out of the room and slammed the door behind him, the door almost smashing Mustang's nose.

"Fullmetal!" Mustang yelled worriedly. Edward had never done that before, and it frightened him. He had never seen him so upset, so full of rage before. He ran after him, calling out to him, but Ed didn't turn around, he never slowed, he didn't show any sign that he had heard Mustang in the first place.

Edward marched outside and turned the corner to a nearby alley. There, he screamed, so much frustration and anger filling him. He punched the brick wall with his automail hand as hard as he could.

"Dammit. Dammit. DAMMIT!" Ed yelled. He let all his pent up anger out on that wall. Punching and kicking it, he continued to abuse the wall until he was exhausted. Mustang had watched it all happen from the alleyway entrance, fearing that if he got too close to Ed while he was like this, that he would be ne new target of the abuse. When he noticed Ed slow down, he walked over to him. 

"Feeling better?" Mustang asked.

"A little."

"Want to tell me what that was about?"

"Not really, but I have a feeling that you're going to make me tell you anyways," Ed said looking up at Roy. He only looked at Ed. He could tell that the older man was worried, his face a stern, blank canvas, but his eyes gave him away. Sighing, Ed told him why he was mad.

"You remember when we went to Long-Johns-Silvers for dinner a couple nights ago?" 

Roy nodded.

"Well, when I ran off, it was because I thought someone was watching me, and I wanted to tell whoever it was to knock it off." 

Roy nodded again.

"They guy that was watching me took off. So I chased him. The kid looked about 17 or 18. He had long green hair, and he could perform alchemy. Is this description ringing any bells?" Ed asked. 

It took Roy a second to put it together. "So you're saying that the kid that was watching you is somehow involved with the kidnaping of Nina Tucker?" Roy asked, making sure he had connected it together properly. 

Ed sighed, looked down and nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying."


	5. Chapter 5

In the interview room, Tucker continued telling his story, about everything that had happened earlier that day.

"Was there anything else that seemed off?" Hawkeye asked gently. Havoc had the small yellow pad of paper sitting in front of him.   
After thinking for a moment, Tucker said, "Yes, there was this woman in hysterics. She said that that she had lost her son. I told her that I would help her. We searched for a little while before a little boy with black hair ran up to the woman screaming "MAMA!",” Tucker said.

"Can you describe the woman to a sketch artist?" Hawkeye asked after sharing a glance with Havoc.

"Yes, of course, but why? How is this. . .? You think she's connected to the disappearance of MY daughter?" Tucker asked. One more glance was shared between the two before Havoc sighed.

"We don't know. We have to look into every possible place for a clue or suspect."  
Tucker ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I can give a description." And with that Hawkeye led Tucker to the sketch artist that they had on call. After making sure that he didn't need anything, Hawkeye met up with Havoc in the lounge for some crappy coffee.

The lounge was small. All for walls where white, on one wall there was a small coffee pot, a white mini-fridge, several oak cabinets, and a white microwave.

On another wall, pictures of all the Brigadier Generals. Every one of them in uniform. Not a single one of them smiling, all of them except for Hughes. He was always smiling because was always thinking of his wonderful wife and darling daughter.

Hawkeye found Havoc leaning against the only empty wall of white next to the coffee pot, cigarette in his mouth, a habit that Hawkeye thought he could never break, no matter how hard she tried.

"You know you're not allowed to smoke inside the building, right?" Hawkeye asked gently. Havoc only sighed, took a drag of his cigarette, took a swig of his horrendous coffee, and dunked the cigarette into the disposable coffee cup.

"Yeah, I know. It's just..." He sighed again and looked down ward. Hawkeye's face, usually a hard mask, now was so full of sorrow and empathy; she walked over and took the cup from his hand and tossed it in the trash. With her back facing Havoc, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Hawkeye's waist, resting his head on her left shoulder. Hawkeye didn't try to walk out of the embrace; she only leaned into it with a sigh. She turned her head and kissed his cheek, Havoc rubbed his heads over Hawkeye's stomach slightly.

"I just hope we catch with abductor soon," he whispered in her ear.

"Me too."  
____________________________  
Ed was sitting in Roy's apartment; they had decided that they would eat in today. Ed sat patiently on the couch in the living room, sitting at an angle so he could see his boyfriend working in the kitchen. A manila envelope sat on the cherry coffee table in front of Ed; the envelope contained copies of the new evidence found and Tucker's statement, along with four others. Ed watched Roy cook in the kitchen in order to keep the manila envelope out of his head.

After Ed had ran off and cooled down, Mustang had requested two copies of everything that was found that day: statements, sketches, pictures, everything.

Roy was still in his uniform’s blue pants but his jacket was hanging on the coat rack at the front door. The sleeves to his white button down top where rolled up just above his elbows, and he had a black apron on.

Ed loved watching Roy cook; it was like watching magic happen, if he believed in magic that was. Cooking was like alchemy, except you really didn't destroy anything, only added ingredients in order to create something better.

"Like what you see Fullmetal?" Roy questioned, turning around with two plates in hand. Ed just smirked.

"Maybe I do, and maybe I don't,” he replied as Roy handed Ed his plate of food.

"Oh really?" Roy said swiping the plate back.

"Well, I see something that I like now," Ed said.

"Mmhmm," Roy hummed, handed Ed his food. Ed was done with one of his cheeseburgers by the time Roy sat down next to him. He just smiled as he began eating. He had filled Ed's plate with two times the amount of food that he had put on his own plate.

They ate in silence; it was a comfortable silence, but silence none the less. When they had eaten their fill, Ed gathered up the dirty dishes and began to wash them.

"Do you want to open it, or should I?" Roy asked, glancing over at Ed, who was now drying his automail.

"Go ahead."

Ed leaned over the couch, looking over Roy's shoulder, reading the paper that Roy was holding. They looked though the crime scene photos and read through all the statements, coming up with theories and connecting the dots. They couldn’t quite see the whole picture, but it it was becoming clearer with everything that they uncovered. Soon an hour passed, then two, then three, until it was midnight. Roy yawned, causing Ed to yawn, causing them to look at the clock.

Roy then insisted that they went to bed, claiming that they wouldn't be able to figure anything else out with only a couple hours of sleep. He dragged Ed out of the living room and into the only bedroom.


	6. Chapter 6

Two braids fell to the floor with a soft thump. More red hair floated to the floor. The hair's owner sniffled. The woman using the scissors said nothing. More hair fell until the child's hair was up above her ears, making her look more boyish than girly, just what the woman wanted.

Sighing, the woman stood up and leaned towards the dirty mirror in front of them. It was so grimy that one could barely see anything in it. Of course that could have been because of the dim light bulb hanging from the ceiling. . . The woman sat back down behind the girl, a box in hand. She pulled her long, black hair back into a ponytail before pulling one gloves and emptying the box onto a makeshift table next to her.

She poured a dark liquid on the girl's hair and began to rub it in, from the roots to the ends of her short hair, turning it as black of the woman hair. Silent tears fell from the little girl's eyes. She didn't want this, she wanted her long red hair. She wanted to go home. She didn't know where she was, where her daddy was, or what was going to happen to her. She sat still until the woman was done.

When the woman was done she called for the green-haired teen, she called him Alphonse. 'Alphonse' took her by the hand and led her to a room with a name on it. It read 'Nina'. That was her name! Nina looked up at 'Alphonse' who opened the door for her and led her in.

The room had a mattress on the floor in the upper left-hand corner. In the wall next to the mattress looked like a chain with a shackle connected to it. A light bulb was hanging from the ceiling, with nothing surrounding it, just a plain light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

"You need to sleep."

"Alphonse?" Nina asked

"Yes?"

"I can't sleep without Ed." Nina said.

"Ed?" Alphonse asked stiffly.

"He's my stuffed dog! He's small and yellow!" Nina said happily, it seemed like she forgot that she was in this place, the solemn expression that she wore earlier returned to her face as she remembered where she was. She looked down at the ground and sighed, a tear escaping from her eye, tumbling to the floor with a splat.

Alphonse hated that she was there, that he had help to take her from her home, but choice did he have? They were going to take what little chores that he had to do out there. In the outside world. So he had help, it's not like he took the child himself, only distracted her father for a minute.

Al sighed, Nina's little hand still in his, lead her to her mattress and sat her down on it. Al walked over to the door, looked out into the hallway, closed the door and walked back over to Nina. Nina was facing the wall, lying on her side when Al walked back to her. He knelt next to the matters and whispered,

"You can't tell anyone of this. OK?"

Nina looked at him, eyes wide fearing that he was going to turn into her father. Nodding hesitantly, Nina rolled over to her back and closed her eyes, waiting. She saw a flash of blue from behind her eyelids. She peaked and saw Al holding a small, yellow stuffed dog. Nina gasped and grabbed it when Al offered it to her. Hugging it to her small chest, Al smiled.

Al laughed then became very somber.

"Remember, you promised not to tell anyone of this. You can't let anyone else see this, understood, otherwise you'll get both of us into BIG trouble."

Nina nodded again and smiled, "I promise!"

"Now get some sleep Nina."

Nina just smiled and laid down on the mattress. Al covered her with the quilt that sat at the foot of the bed.

He quickly walked back to the door and opened it, but before walking out of the room he glanced back at Nina and smiled. Seeing her content and that little stuffed 'Ed' clutched in her tiny arms, he exited the room, turning of the light and closing most of the way.

Sighing, Al began to walk to his room. He so badly wanted to ask about his big brother, but there was no guarantee that Nina even knew him.

Al stopped at every door on his way to his room. Opening all of them to make sure that the person in the room was ok. It was a habit that he was never going to break, since he was never going to be officially free from this place, but, Oh if he could take to his brother! He had so many questions for him! Like, "Did he get Mom back without him?" or, if he did, "Did it work?"

Al wanted to know who that man was, who was with him at the Long John Silver's. Was he a friend? A co-worker? Al didn't know, but he wanted to know so badly. What he wanted more than knowing everything that been going on with Brother, was to be with him, away from this place, taking Mei of course.

Al sighed. He had a HUGE crush on Mei. So what that she's short. Her long black hair was always in braids, her cooking was the best, not like Mom's, but it was the next best thing. Much better than Lust or Envy's cooking, that's for sure.

Al finally entered his room after making his rounds. His room was a little more decorated and ornate than Nina's room. Since he’d been there for years, every year he got something new. So in the upper left corner of his room was a wooden bedframe, his sheets were white, a mirror on the wall to the right. Al walked to the mirror, and sighed. He missed his blond hair. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed again.

Al striped down to his underwear and turned off the hanging light, making the room pitch black. Knowing his room inside and out, walked easily to his bed, and tried to sleep, but sleep eluded him that night. Images of the carnival he had been in earlier that day haunted him. After a long, long while, he finally drifted off into an uneasy slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. I am soooooooo sorry for taking so long to update. All i have are lame and generic excuses. Please, leave a kudo and a comment! Your words give me both life and motivation!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, so , soooooooooo sorry about taking forever and a day to update. I only have poor excuses in envolving school and general laziness. I would like to thank the lovely DaisyDogOx for beta-ing for me. I'm going to be going back though the past 6 or so chapters and re-upload the newly beta-ed chapters. Please enjoy, and comment any and all thoughts!

Opening her eyes, Nina yawned. She closed them to stretch her arms above her head, Ed in hand. She looked at Ed and said "Good Morning." to the doll when she heard a creak. She shoved Ed under the blanket and turned her head to the door slowly.

A girl stood there, she looked to be about Nina's age if not a little older. A black eye peeked into the room, and a smile gazed at her.

"You don't have to hide it from me." She said. "I won't tell if you don't tell."

"Who are you?" Nina asked hesitantly.

"I'm Mei Chang. But you can call me Mei you want." Mei said. "Can I come in?"

"Uh huh." Nina replied sitting up, the blanket covering her legs. Mei sat down next to Nina. They sat in silence for a little bit while Ed sat in her lap. Mei looked at her for a bit, trying to figure out what to say.

"So, what's your name?" Mei asked.

"Nina."

"Oh? That's a pretty name." Mei said smiling at her.

"Where's my daddy?" Nina asked, looking up at Mei.

"When can I go home?" Tears now trickled down Nina's face. Nina wanted to go home so badly she could hardly stand it. Mei sighed and looked away before sighing once more.

"Well, you see, this is a big game. A big game of Hide-N-Seek. You, me, even Al are hiding. Everyone here is hiding from everyone. So we have to stay put in order keep everyone, including your daddy, from finding us. And your daddy's working really hard on trying to find you. Everyone that's hiding can work together to keep out of sight. And everyone who's trying to find us can work together to try to find us." Mei said wiping the tears from Nina's eyes.

"Oh. Do I have to play?" Nina asked, rubbing her eyes a little, carrying Ed up to her face.

"Yeah. But who knows how long this game is going to last! It may end soon." Mei said, "So cheer up! It's time for breakfast!" Mei said hopping off the mattress, extending her hand.

"Ok." Nina sad, trying to smile.

The breakfast table was very quiet. No one spoke, even Nina, the table chatter box, didn't feel the need to speak to anyone about anything. Everyone passed around plates full of scrambled eggs, toast, and pancakes.

At the table, Nina only recognized 3 of the 10 people sitting at the table. She knew Mei(Who sat on her right), and Al( who sat across from her), the woman who cut her hair, Lust?(who sat at the far end of the table). The other people who sat at the table, starting from the far left-side of the table sat, a palm tree, a kid who looked like an airplane driver, Al, a pretty black-haired woman, Lust(if that was her name).

On the right side of the table sat, short haired woman, a mean-looking nerd, Nina, Mei, an elderly man with an eye-patch.

Nina though the old man look familiar, but she didn't know where she had seen him.

The room was cement, a torn up rug sat under the table on the concrete floor. There was only five lights in the room, one on each wall and one hanging on the ceiling.

Nina had barely touch her food when the Palm Tree stood up.

"Ok, breakfast is over! Go back to your rooms!" The tree barked; hunched over the table, hands holding him up. Everyone quickly fled the room. The mean-looking nerd and the Airplane Driver where the first to leave, hand in hand. May took Nina's hand in her's and they left. Al ushered all the kids out of the room. The only one's still there when Nina looked back was the Palm Tree, the short-haired woman, Lust, the black-haired woman, and the old man.

Mei left Nina in her room, and told her to stay there. To not leave unless she was told to by her, Al, or an adult. When Mei entered her room she shut the door with a sigh, and slid down the door.

She hated that she had lied to Nina when she asked about her dad. Mei had been there, in this hell, for nearly as long as Al. They took her when she had just arrived in Amestris. The only reason she hadn't escaped yet, using Alkahestry was because they had Xiao-Mei somewhere. She had her suspicions that they had killed the little panda, but she had to make sure of that before escaping without her.

She had convinced the Homunculi not to cut her hair, telling them that no one would know her, since she came to Amestris alone, which may not've been the best thing to say, but oh well.

Mei walked over to her bed. Her room had a wooden bed frame, her sheets where a light pink. A Plexiglas mirror sat on the wall. A desk sat in a corner with a picture of the scenery over it. The hand drawn picture is of the Xing countryside. Another hand drawn picture of Xiao-Mei is on the mirror, a corner covered by the mirror's frame.

Mei sat on her bed, leaned down and pulled out a makeshift journal and opened it up to the previous entry. She walked to her desk, continuing to read the entry. She sat down, turned the page, and began to write.


End file.
